I'm no engineer, so take my advice with a lump of salt. I doubt the laser would get weaker, but maybe it's not focused properly. Other posters have discussed an adjustment that allows the laser or the receptor to be "aimed" for better results. I can't recall which thread, but it was fairly recent - within the past 2 months.

JEfromCanada wrote:I'm no engineer, so take my advice with a lump of salt. I doubt the laser would get weaker, but maybe it's not focused properly. Other posters have discussed an adjustment that allows the laser or the receptor to be "aimed" for better results. I can't recall which thread, but it was fairly recent - within the past 2 months.

perfect, thank you, this is the kind of answer I was expecting; other option where I can look. cheers

There are several points of failure on the Lidar, and there are no reports of replacing the Laser Led's. The Neato Control Program from Russia, other thread here, is used to analyze the laser scan (rendering the text USB interface in the Neato into a more useful GUI). The program can show the range of the Lidar affected by the receiver focus, adjusted by turning the barrel -- a tedious procedure, going in and out of the scan display to make trial adjustments.Besides the spin motor wear, there is an optical position sensor on the drum to aim the laser, which can sometimes be bent out of alignment. Dirt can accumulate in the spin bearing and commutator slip ring for data connection. These may show up in out of spec rotation speed of the drum, which must be exact I think 360rpm, 6rps, to time the position of the drum to determine the aim for recording data.

Did you rip the LCD cable? Release the wheel springs before opening the case? It is surface mount soldered, not easily repaired, maybe with the hot air soldering method for surface mount IC's -- pads very close together, hard to prevent bridging.... Usually requires replacing the LCD except for expert technicians properly equipped.

The lidar can get dirty, check for dirt. If not, you can adjust the emitter on the left, twisting it with a pair of pliers right or left (like rolling the cylinder) until the picture is clear on the software.

I had a LIDAR issue once caused by fuzz getting pulled into the turret housing via the rubber band (everyone corrects me and points out it's a gasket). There's an optical sensor in there that reads the RPM of the LIDAR, and if that gets blocked the robot just says "My vision is blocked". My error code was different than 3000 or 4000 though. I don't recall exactly what it was.

The D3 was recently on sale for $180 plus $55 Kohl's cash. I ended up buying one since no-go lines is way easier than blocking off every place the robot shouldn't go. Another bonus is it's much quieter, has a wider cleaning path, gets closer to the walls, and is app controlled.

I mean it never been able to get back to the charging base, but can do a full 1st pass. I'm assuming when the battery is too low, the laser is too weak and throw the ''clear my path'' message when there's nothing... And this on about 15 tries.

So I take it apart once again, put back the receiver lens where it was (last time I did a clockwise full turn), and only turn the laser (brass part). and bingo I get about 2.5-3m reading on neatocontrol.

did few cleaning pass, and it never get stuck and be able to get back to the charging station.

In conclusion, for those having this issue :

1- make sure the lidar motor is good, or get a new one (about 2$)2- make sure the battery is good3- Adjust the laser or lens with patience until you get a good reading. (green dots far as possible)